Online events are a flexible format, you can hold a Zoom conference with minimal costs, or you can take care of it
Zoom-like platforms
Zoom, Whereby, Google Meets are suitable for the simplest of events: for example, this canThere will be a thematic press conference or a meeting of a private club, a business meeting or creative gatherings.
Events on similar platforms canlook like an online bar from shishki.collective. Inside - rooms created on the Whereby platform, with stylized 2D backgrounds. All rooms are divided according to interests: for English speakers, for art lovers. It is through people and simple surroundings that value is created.
At Stay the F Home Bar, you can do whatever you want, like watch a stand-up or discuss a movie.
A more sophisticated option with chroma keying and background substitution was used at the Salesforce World Tour Sydney Reimagined virtual event.
As backgrounds - Australian landscapes
The advantages of the tool in its availability (annuala subscription to a Zoom business account costs 15,000 rubles) and ease of use: you do not need separate specialists for the event. However, organizers need to do their best if they want to keep the audience's attention: for example, try to create a “real” conference or presentation environment around the participants. In addition, scientists are now starting to talk about Zoom-fatigue as a diagnosis.
Virtual 3D platforms
Events in virtual platforms moremore like a game than the usual Zoom calls: event participants create characters and use them to navigate specially created locations. For example, these can be conference rooms or exhibitions that are familiar to all of us.
For example, LG held a conference on the Areena Virtual Space platform, where users could explore the brand's products (literally looking at their 3D models from all angles), listen to lectures, and communicate with other participants.
The Virbela platform now regularly openscampuses of the largest universities in the world: they recreate real locations in 3D. In addition, the platform is used for communication between remote teams: eXp Realty held their planning meetings on it.
Classroom at Virbela with avatar visitors
There are several advantages to virtual platforms.They help to immerse the participants in the event deeper: the created characters of the participants can interact with each other using gestures, emotions and dances. At the same time, the usual verbal communication does not go anywhere. Also in virtual events there are ample opportunities for customization: you can show interactive stands, racks, podiums, recreate any building that can be presented offline. There are also unusual ways to monetize: already “built” virtual spaces can be reused by companies for other events. You can add consultants to the virtual location who will tell the participants about the company's product. This is especially true for exhibitions and showrooms.
Realistic “development” of virtual locationsimmerses participants deeper, and avatar characters help get acquainted. Participants can communicate using avatar emotes, dancing, or simply exchanging business cards.
The cost of such a virtual event is comparable to the cost of a medium-sized offline event, but the format has several undeniable advantages.
The main thing is the possibility of endlessreuse of the same location. Once you have “built” a virtual expo center, you can host a new event there a month later, just by slightly updating the design.
The organizer bears less expenses for the design of printing materials and does not spend the budget at all on souvenirs, coffee breaks, hotel payments for speakers, and the like.
In-game event
During the isolation, sandbox games like Minecraft also began to be used as venues for events. For example, for a lecture from the Higher School of Economics.
The campus of the university was recreated inside the game: with classrooms and adjacent territory
In such games, you can play anyspace, and the network has already written several guides for holding events in the game. In addition to practical advice, there are collected contacts of people who can design a specially worked out world for you: to recreate your office or any other site that you can imagine.As for the cost, the final price of the event depends entirely on the customer's technical task: on the volume of construction , the duration of the event, the technical means that will be spent during the preparation and conduct. There are still many such factors, but this is probably the most basic one.
There are even more opportunities in game locations:due to the mechanics and scalability built into the game engine, while the cost may not be the highest among analogs. On the downside, you will definitely need an experienced operator: a team of specialists who have launched similar projects before.
VR and AR platforms
VR and AR - a special use casevirtual spaces, which is ideal for simulating real objects, such as offices or natural landscapes. In addition, VR provides a visual experience almost identical to the real one: therefore, it can be used to present new cars or gadgets. An example is a virtual test drive of Volkswagen.
Using this approach allowsenormous savings in time and financial costs for the transportation of a real car (and the client's stand was presented at all the largest summer festivals in Russia), in the process of carrying out a real test drive.
The complexity of organizing such an event dependsdirectly from the scale. If your task is to organize a large business forum that includes an exhibition format, then most likely you will need to involve the development team in creating the necessary content and integrating it into the platform. If you want to hold a small art exhibition, and it is enough for you to integrate the work and create a sense of presence for guests, without customizations and complexities in the script, then you can easily cope with your efforts.
Amazing, isn't it? #V2ec2020 https://t.co/jzb2RORTxs
- Juanisa McCoy (she / her / hers / Miss) (@nisajaie) March 19, 2020
We talked about the pros, among the shortcomings we can note the high cost (up to several million rubles) and difficulties with the hardware: in the case of VR, each participant must have a VR headset.
Of course, online is still only strivingget closer to live events in terms of the level of involvement and realism of sensations. We all understand that networking at an afterparty in an online bar is not at all like being alive. On the other hand, a lot depends on the nature of the communication: the same lectures and master classes feel great online - there you can pause the video, rewind, watch a part at a working computer, and watch it on the couch with a tablet.
The immersiveness of online events willto develop every year: large projects like Microsoft Mesh are already being launched. Therefore, the complete transition of the event market to the digital environment is only a matter of time.
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